Business Insider: ohai developing innovative social games that are actually good!

ohai — this week Nick Saint of the Business Insider reports on a crazy new Facebook trend: “Games That Are Actually Good“. And look who’s included in the Business Insider’s three examples:

ohai, founded and headed up by angel investor, former VC, and serial entrepreneur Susan Wu, launched its first game, City of Eternals, a few months ago. The game combines some of the viral features and monetization strategies of traditional Facebook games with gameplay elements of massively-multiplayer online roleplaying games.

Oh Nick Saint, you are a saint. We’re aiming to shape the future of social games, so we appreciate the shout-out. And we’re honored to be mentioned alongside Stewart Butterfield and Sid Meier, two dudes we totally admire. Now to keep earning that accolade with more kickass games, starting soon with (drum roll) Project Unicorn Parade!

Fast Company: Chief ohai Susan Wu among 2010’s “Most Influential Women in Technology”!

ohai, this is excellent and humbling news: Chief ohai Susan Wu is the top selection in “The Gamers” category of Fast Company’s new cover story, “Most Influential Women in Technology 2010“! We ohais are gratified to get our efforts to shape the future of social gaming recognized by such a great site. Includes a good interview with Susan, who talks virtual goods and building massively social online games. As she puts it to Fast Company, “[T]here’s entire new generations of social games that are going to be coming to market that will transform how people think about playing with each other online.” Speaking of which, look for news on our next game very very very soon!

Susan Wu at SXSW! Chief ohai speaks on how social games can level up

ohai all — if you’re in Austin for South by Southwest, chief ohai Susan Wu is giving a talk Monday, March 15 at 5:00 PM, and we’d love to see you there. Here’s the description:

Social Games Level Up!
What’s next for social games? What does it take to build an MMO that everyone will play? Can you teach Farmville fans how to play an MMO? Or get devoted World of Warcraft players passionate about a social network game? Susan Wu, CEO and co-founder of gaming industry pioneer, ohai!, shares 5 key lessons learned from launching the company’s first next-generation social MMO, City of Eternals.

For Twitter updates, follow @ohai or Susan @sw. The Austin Chronicle, by the way, includes Susan among its “People to follow on Twitter during SXSW Interactive“.

Going to GDC? Come talk social gaming and virtual goods with chief ohai Susan Wu!

If you’re going to the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco next week, chief ohai Susan Wu will be talking about virtual goods and social gaming for two events there. On March 10 at 3:30pm for GDC’s VCON, Susan will be on a panel called “How Monetizing Games-as-a-Service will Save you from Extinction“.

Then on March 11th at The Box from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm., she’ll be at the Cha-Ching! Workshop: Realizing Revenues Through Virtual Economies.

Speaking of GDC, we’re having an office party to celebrate the beta release of our first MMO, City of Eternals, and give folks a sneek peek of our next game, Project Unicorn Parade. Here’s info on requesting an invite!

ohai — we’re in Forbes talking virtual goods!

Forbes has an article on virtual goods featuring chief ohai Susan, who explains why they’re a valuable commodity people are willing to pay for: They help us symbolically express how we feel about each other, and show off our own place in the world. Or as she puts it there: “It’s about relationship building, and things like rank and status.” Also, big ups to City of Eternals player and CoE Wikia fansite editor Greg, who tells Forbes about our community’s passion for buying items to pimp up their vampire cribs.

Chief ohai Susan tells PBS’ Media Shift how virtual goods might help the news industry

ohai, PBS’s Media Lab has a very interesting editorial on what virtual goods can teach the news industry, which is struggling to find new ways of funding itself in the digital age. Chris O’Brien points to the virtual goods industry as an inspiration, and gets some wisdom from chief ohai Susan:

Here’s what she understood early on about the value of virtual goods: In the real world, we have all sorts of intangible interactions, from shaking hands to smiling to offering blessings. The value of virtual goods is not about the object, but rather its ability to express an emotion or feeling in a way that has value. “Sending someone a virtual beer is not about the beer,” Wu told me. “It’s a way to show, ‘I have an affection for you.’”

Much more here.

Games.com Interviews Chief ohai Susan!

Games.com has an extensive interview with Susan, our chief ohai, who covers many topics pertaining to our new Vampire MMO, City of Eternals, and around the ohai philosophy of MMOs. Here’s a sample:
Read more…

ohai — Announcing City of Eternals, Our Modern Vampire MMO!

This week I’m proud to announce City of Eternals, the first full-featured online game (often called an MMO) set in a world with modern vampires. Request a private alpha invitation here, we’re giving them out as quickly as we can.

We’ve been building out the core technology for about a year now. City of Eternals went into production about 9 months ago, incorporating a few design elements from our early social games from 2007, and from our even earlier work developing the world’s very first MMOs back in the 1990s. I’m proud to say that ohai team members were leading innovators and developers of text-based MUDs and large scale game franchises such as Everquest, Everquest 2, PlanetSide, Asheron’s Call, Star Wars Galaxies, Second Life, Lord of the Rings Online, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Second Life and Free Realms. I’m honored to be working with this fantastic team.

With City of Eternals, we’re taking social games and MMOs to their next stage of evolution: An action-filled, web-based experience with 3D graphics playable not just within Facebook, but anywhere on the web, starting with CityofEternals.com, and soon, anywhere you can host the game’s Flash client, such as blogs and social network pages.

In New Valencia, your vampire will battle powerful monsters, uncover mysteries and secrets, and earn a place among many rival vampire Houses fighting to control this secret society of Immortals. But that’s just the start: Fall in love with a fellow Vampire, lead your own personal coven (which we call your “House”), customize your home and avatar look, and much more. Choose the way you want to play a Vampire! Over the next few months, we’ll continue adding features and new content, so our world can better reflect the big diverse culture of the bloodthirsty undead.

Our game is still growing and improving, and we’d love your feedback to make it better. Meantime, look for me in New Valencia — my avatar is also named Susan, a Vampire dressed in hot red boots (I wish I had these in real life!) If you spot me, please say hello.

This is just ohai’s first MMO, by the way, with many more of all varieties to come. Meanwhile, see you in the City of Eternals!

- Susan, chief ohai